When America sneezes, the world catches a cold—one of the great cliches and truisms of globalization. An adaptation of Klemens von Metternich‘s opinion of mid-19th century France, it can now be also applied to China.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the commodities markets. Since topping out for the year on April 2, the price of Brent crude, the globally recognized benchmark oil price, fell sharply as fears spread of a slowdown in Chinese demand.

China has been the driving force behind oil-demand growth since 2008, when much of the rest of the world stalled.

Now OPEC has added its voice to the debate, warning that weaker-than-expected economic growth in China may dent oil consumption. OPEC may well be concerned—Saudi Arabia, the cartel’s kingpin, is the No. 1 supplier of oil to China and the Middle East represents some 40% of Chinese oil imports, according to the Saudi Gazette.

Chinese demand may be waning, but it is still healthy. OPEC may be more concerned with the country’s moves to diversify its energy-supply routes.

So while there is more crude moving east by pipe, business remains good for shippers. The FT says a sharp rise in the number of oil-ton miles—a proxy for the global oil trade—comes even as the volume of oil traded has flatlined, because crude is being shipped over much longer distances.

SYRIA BREAKOUT RATTLES MARKETS

The war in Syria has been in the energy market’s peripheral vision—the war-torn country may not be a major player in oil or natural gas, but it sure is close to some that are.

Concerns are real that the internal conflict may spill out into Iraq, Lebanon or Turkey, which wants to be a major east-west energy hub, prompting a wider regional war that could have significant implications for the movement of oil and gas.